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Kind of a future purchase, since I have a long way to go wiring and organizing my garage before I use it very much...

They installed 2 of these Marvin #7060 heaters back in our parts department a week ago... So the guys wouldn't freeze while pulling parts, and when I found out they came from a local hardware store for $45 it was hard to pass up.

I know I won't get an 80 degree garage in the dead of winter off of 15 amps, but these work pretty well. It'll get it warm enough that I can feel my fingers, and take my coat off when it's 50 degrees outside.

So I went over on my lunch break and grabbed the last one. You can run it on 1 or 2 tubes - 6.25 amps or 12.5 amps. There's a pull cord that switches between Off, 1 and 2. It runs off of any 110v outlet.

Just thought you'd all like to know about the alternatives to running gas lines if you've got a 1 or 2 car garage. I doubt it'd heat anything larger than my 25x25, or anywhere with a 12' ceiling.

I just bought two of these and mounted them to the trusses in my shop. What I did different is titled them to where one END is higher than the other.

After about 20 minutes the plastic end caps started to MELT!!! luckily I was there, otherwise who knows what would have happened. They were tilted only about 20 degrees. Too much risk. Too bad they are not 100% steel.

They did work great, for the few minutes they did work. I really liked these, now I'm looking for an alternative.

I have been using one for about 2 years now, has worked great. I have it on a tripod stand and it will heat my 24x24 garage, if you leave it there long enough. It heats well enough my wife can stain her projects and stuff, and IR cures the stain faster. Never had the cap issue explained above.

Uh... Reflexxx... we've got two in our pats department. One's over a year old, and the other was installed last week, and is the exact same model as mine.

Neither one has melted.

For $50, I'll take my chances. But thanks for the warning - I'll be sure to watch carefully for the first half hour or so.

914, thanks for the confirmation. I figured it MIGHT do the job. A buddy has a similar unit, but his shop is a completely uninsulated 2-car steel unit that has a higher ceiling than my 9-footer. Is your garage insulated at all? Made any attempts to seal the edges of the garage door, and the like?

Okay the garage I use it in is my driver space, but yes it is insulated R19 walls, R13 garage door, R10 Man door, and R 40 ceiling. So yes it is insulated. My garage door seals tight, matter of fact they wear the paint off if I don't touch it up every now and again.

We use that garage for odds and ends projects, my work shop and house are heated with Hydronic heating. I wish I added the loops into the parking garage floor also. Heat it to about 50 would make my diesel a little nicer in hte morning. At any rate, we use it is a dircetional heat, but if you are working you will start in a sweatshirt or flannel and end up in a t-shirt as long as you arn't on hte floor. Even then I have used it to heat the floor mass, then lay down under a car when needed. Never had a spot of trouble, Lowes sells them for $39.99 around here. And Griot's sells them for almost double that. Same unit, if Richard sells them, then I have no real problem using them. My workshop is also Hydronic heated and I love would recomend it to anybody that likes to work. I heat it to 60 degrees, and you lay on the floor it feels like summer.

Oh, one nice thing about the nit on a stand is when the family is not using it, I use to speed the paint curing process along, works great on them little parts, or big one even, just have to move it more. It won't cure powder thou, I tried, and was bummed.

I have one of these positioned so it directs the heat at my work bench only. I use it when I'm in there working on a project and do not need to heat the entire garage. I love it. I too have used it to cure paint when I was painting my Jeep tailgate.

We have one of those in our kennel building in the bathing area. It heats the area it is directed toward very well. I was told to think of radiant heater units like a flashlight as oppossed to an overhead room light. Imagine walking into a dark room with a flashlight, it will only light what it's pointed at.

We have one of those in our kennel building in the bathing area. It heats the area it is directed toward very well...

Right you are. I was out in the garage today welding a snapped-off catalytic converter back onto someones vehicle. It was 32 degrees when I started, and 28 when I finished. This is a standard 2-car garage (25x25ish, 9' ceiling) and that's about as bad as our weather gets.

After 30 minutes with the heater on, it warmed the whole place enough that I was able to remove my coat, and just lay under the car in a t-shirt and sweater.

All I wanted out of the heater was for it to warm the garage enough that I could work comfortably, instead of needing to wear gloves and a bulky coat in the coldest weather. When it's 55 degrees outside, I should be able to work in there in a t-shirt anywhere in the garage.

So I'm a happy customer.

When you first go out there, you've got to keep the heater pointed at your work area. It will gradually warm the entire garage somewhat, but it's nowhere near as efficient or effective as a focred-air unit.

I bought one at Home Depot about 6 years ago. It was great and lasted 4 good years. At the time, my garage was a 3 car with board siding and no insulation. It was built in the 30's so, it is 19 1/2 deep and the doors were 8' wide. The were no possible asfixiation issues because wind just blew right through it. Propane heaters kept the dogs at a tollerable temperature but were quite costly. The time came to repair the ol' garage, it got a new roof and the three 8' doors were reduced to two 10' doors (insulated) and a walk door. The ceiling and walls were insulated and dry walled and I painted the floor. I found a new Marvin heater online for $37.00 plus freight. It has been flawless for 2 years and working well on it's 3rd. It is mounted from the ceiling and I haven't had any melting issues. it pretty well stays on all winter and the temp in the garage is T-shirt toasty. The pet door allows the animals to enter and exit at will. I found this site while shopping for another heater as a back-up. The same Marvin ceiling heater. I have made 1 adjustment to the heater. The nylon on/off cord was slapped by a friend of my son's and wound up over the heater and melted. I took the end off and attached a stainless steel fishing leader as the on/off cord and it has been great. I will be a 3 time owner of the same model and brand. Heck, I may even purchase an extra, just in case they discontinue the model. (If it ain't broke, don't fix it). Good luck.

Home Depot in Lincoln, Nebraska has a chinese knock-off that looks very similar to the Marvin and is $29.95. Hate to buy Chinese but almost unavoidable for some things. I got one and put it up just to see how it worked. Works fine. Will not heat up much, but does take some chill off in an area. I may get something similar in 240 volt to take the chill off my work area in a large building...if it will not make my electric meter run too fast!!

Home Depot in Lincoln, Nebraska has a chinese knock-off that looks very similar to the Marvin and is $29.95. Hate to buy Chinese but almost unavoidable for some things. I got one and put it up just to see how it worked. Works fine. Will not heat up much, but does take some chill off in an area. I may get something similar in 240 volt to take the chill off my work area in a large building...if it will not make my electric meter run too fast!!

after reading this thread, i went and bought this exact model. works pretty nicely. i have a 22' x 22' garage, and it actually heats the whole garage. i usually work right in front of it for the first hour, and after that, it eventually heats the whole garage. not to 70 degrees or anything crazy, but enough to keep the chill off.

I went and bought one of those Home Depot units on Friday. It kind of hurt me to do so. I always try to avoid the "WorkForce" and similar CCJ brands (Cheap Chinese Junk.) But, I figured it was worth a try, since I won't be able to have a real heating system out in my barn this winter.

I haven;t had the unit on for more than an hour at this point, but I was pleased with it's output. Standing under it, I can take the chill off my body...holding my cold hands up close to the grille gets them hot right quick. My ceiling in two of the bays is about 8', and if I place a thermometer on the concrete under the heater, it will get up to the low 40s fairly quickly. But, I have no hope that this one little unit will raise the temp throughout my 24x32 structure. It just gives me a respite from the cold that I can escape to after I work on a project for a while and am numb. I think I will invest in a propane heater that runs off a 20# tank for heating the entire space when I am doing a large project, like the transmission swap that I have coming up.

Oh, and the WorkForce unit is cheap plastic...one good drop and it'll be broken.

I went and checked it out today. It looks like cheap plastic, but it is only $30. I'm trying to make the determination if it is worth investing in a legitimate heating source or not before I have the drywall taped. I may just put one of these over the workbench and tough it out since there would be significant cost to buy a heater and run natural gas or 220 to the garage. If anyone has any insight on how much one of these electric heaters would cost to run, that would be helpful.

How high are you guys mounting these? My ceiling is just over 10 feet high, so I'm concerned that they won't be able to do the job from that height. I was thinking of mounting a couple over the cars.

I think 10' will be too high. The ceiling in the back part of my garage is 12', but in the two front bays it is only maybe 8'. At that height, a thermometer on the floor under the heater WILL go up once the heater is turned on, say from 32 degrees to low or mid 40's after some time. But, I don't "feel" the nice hot heat unless my body is closer to it, like if I stand directly under it (I'm 6'2").

I think 10' will be too high. The ceiling in the back part of my garage is 12', but in the two front bays it is only maybe 8'. At that height, a thermometer on the floor under the heater WILL go up once the heater is turned on, say from 32 degrees to low or mid 40's after some time. But, I don't "feel" the nice hot heat unless my body is closer to it, like if I stand directly under it (I'm 6'2").